The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that European Union sanctions on Russian oil would harm the global energy market, but said Moscow was working to change the trajectory of exports to limit its losses.
European Union leaders agreed this week to ban imports of Russian crude, aiming to halt 90% of Russian oil sales to the 27-nation bloc by the end of the year.
“These sanctions will have a negative impact on the entire continent … for the Europeans, for us and for the entire global energy market,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Archyde.com news agency.
More than a quarter of Europe’s oil came from Russia in 2021, with the European Union accounting for nearly half of Russia’s total exports of crude and petroleum products in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Energy prices have jumped to multi-year highs since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, prompting inflation to its highest levels in a generation, and sparked fears of a cost-of-living crisis in Europe and the United States.
The Kremlin confirmed that Moscow had already begun to redirect supplies away from Europe after the imposition of sanctions.
“This is a targeted and systematic measure that will allow us to minimize negative consequences,” Peskov said on Wednesday.
India is among those who have benefited from the Russian supply disruption, buying record quantities of Russian oil at a huge discount compared to global market prices.